Drought taking toll on Wisconsin's corn, soybean crops

Despite drought in some states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects a record corn harvest.

Nearly 60% of Wisconsin's corn crop is in fair to very poor condition from drought this summer and a late start to the planting season.

Twenty-eight percent of the crop was rated poor or very poor, while 31% was rated fair, 31% good, and 10% excellent, according to this week's crops progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fifty-nine percent of the soybean crop was rated fair to very poor, the report noted, while 88% of the pasture land was in that condition.

Earlier this summer, flooding ruined some of Wisconsin's soybeans and delayed planting to the point where it was nearly too late in the wettest fields. Then came drought conditions in some counties, further complicating things.

La Crosse received only 2.4 inches of rain between July 1 and Sept. 10, the driest on record for that period. The U.S. Drought Monitor showed 50.7% of the contiguous United States was in moderate drought or worse between Sept. 3 and 8.

"Another week without rain. Pastures are getting very dry... walking in the pasture you hear a cracking sound under foot, and much of it is brown," a La Crosse crops observer noted in the weekly USDA report.

The planting of corn, Wisconsin's most valuable and ubiquitous crop, got off to a late start this year because of excessively wet conditions. Then there wasn't enough heat for the corn to thrive, said Bob Oleson, executive director of the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association.

"Last year, frankly, a lot of people were surprised at how good the crop was. This year, it's the reverse of it. A lot of corn wasn't knee-high by the Fourth of July. It will be a late crop, and it will be just as hard to predict yields this year as last year," Oleson said.

Even in a single field, the quality of corn and soybeans has varied widely depending on how well the soil retained moisture during some of the drought-like conditions.

"We are all waiting until the combines roll to see what kind of yields we have," said Ross Bishop, a dairy farmer in Washington County.

"Last year on low ground, where there was enough moisture, we could get 150 bushels per acre (of corn). And then on top of a knoll, where there wasn't any moisture, you wouldn't get anything," Bishop said.

The combination of heat and scarce amounts of rain intensified the drought in several agriculturally significant states this summer, contributing to declining crop conditions in parts of the Midwest and South.

However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a separate report last week the expected record corn harvest and third-largest soybean crop are on track, since areas that aren't seeing as severe a drought will produce enough to make up for the driest regions.

Crops in states such as Kentucky and Tennessee look better than they did a month ago, the USDA said, while Iowa and Missouri are suffering from the heat.

"The fringes of the corn belt are producing enough to offset Iowa's loss," said Chad Hart, agriculture economist at Iowa State University.

Drought worsened in portions of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin, according to the USDA.

The agency said about a third of corn and soybeans were in good or excellent condition in Iowa, down from more than half rated in those categories a month ago. In Nebraska, where drought increased in some areas, non-irrigated corn was in similar shape.

However, the USDA said corn production nationally is expected to be 13.8 billion bushels, a record for the United States. The corn yield, or amount produced per acre, is expected to be 155.3 bushels per acre, which would be the highest average yield since 2009.

Higher corn yields for the Central Plains and across the South could more than offset reductions for Iowa and North Dakota.

Farmers are expected to harvest 3.15 billion bushels of soybeans, the fourth largest on record.

About Rick Barrett

Rick Barrett covers manufacturing, telecom and agriculture. He has received Best in Business awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was co-recipient of a Barlett & Steele award for investigative business journalism.